


Life Is The Bubbles

by trulywicked



Series: Under the Sea [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fluff, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24776869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trulywicked/pseuds/trulywicked
Summary: A lovely surprise awaits Orochimaru.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino, Hatake Sakumo/Orochimaru
Series: Under the Sea [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742554
Comments: 12
Kudos: 178





	Life Is The Bubbles

“It’s so strange.” Ino leaned in, careful not to drip on the equipment her mate was setting up. “This device can really see inside a body?”

Sakura smiled and made certain that the leads and wires were all hooked in properly. “And display what it picks up on the screen so we can see it. Okay,” she turned the machine on and hummed in satisfaction, “we’re good to go.”

Ino stretched a bit. “I’ll go down and tell him then.”

Sakura leaned in to give her a quick peck on the lips. “Thanks, sweetheart.”

“The sooner it’s done and we’re out of this creepy ship graveyard the better.” Ino muttered and dropped over the boat’s edge into the water, swimming down to the cave. You couldn’t be friends with Naruto and avoid coming to this cave system, not with the amount of time he spent here. She wouldn’t mind it if not for...

She eyed a half destroyed human ship as she passed it then shuddered and flicked her tail to swim a little harder. The dead ships were disturbing.

She paused at the cave entrance and made a little trill. Under  _ no _ circumstances would she be entering the cave without permission first right now. She liked having all her scales right where they were.

A flash of white and lavender scales caught her attention and she moved back a bit as Orochimaru swam out of the cave. Her eyes dropped to the very slight swelling of his belly automatically then she jerked her attention back to his face. “Sakura’s ready. Where’s your mate?” She looked around with a frown, trying to locate the dolphin mer.

“He was summoned to the drop off. There was another incursion.” Orochimaru began swimming up to the silhouette of the boat on the surface of the water.

“Uh...you sure that it’s okay to do this with him not around? I don’t want him to get angry at my mate.” Ino wasn’t a match for an experienced Warrior, especially not one who was being overprotective of his pregnant mate, but to defend Sakura she’d risk it, and lose those scales she wanted to keep in place.

“He knows I’m letting Sakura take a look. He will not be angry. This is likely a better situation to be frank. Sakumo would be agitated not being able to reach me out of the water.” 

“Not reassuring.” Ino muttered but didn’t argue further. “I’ll stay under the boat, give you and Sakura privacy for the scan.”

He looked over his shoulder at her and dipped his head in a small nod of acknowledgement. He went around to the swim ladder and lifted himself up over the side of the boat, startling the human standing beside her equipment.

Sakura jumped then laughed. “Oh! Sorry! I was expecting you to come around to the swim platform. It’s easier for most mers.”

“Most mers don’t have the phenotype to maneuver on land.” Orochimaru slithered over to the table the equipment was on, studying it with sharp curiosity.

“There’s a point.” She rolled her eyes. “That little squirt Konohamaru likes to crawl up the aft and jump to splat across the windshield.” 

“Guppies are mischievous.” Orochimaru smiled, his hand dropping to the faint rounding of his belly. 

“And the more they can manipulate the more mischief kids and guppies get into.” Sakura chuckled. “Have you seen these before?” She drummed her fingers on the equipment table beside the ultrasound machine.

“No. I have heard of them but only in passing.” Orochimaru pulled himself up onto a padded table that had been set up beside the equipment. “They follow the same principle as echolocation, correct?”

“Mmm-hmm. The head of the transducer,” she passed it to him so he could inspect it, “emits soundwaves that are reflected back to it. The electric signals are translated into an image that shows up on the screen.”

“Hmm,” Orochimaru considered the transducer, “very similar to the echolocation of cetaceans and cetacean based mers. Sakumo spent the final months of my first pregnancy clicking at our guppy.”

Sakura had to smile at the mental image that gave her. “From what Tsunade-sama has told me mer echolocation is a little less intense than their animal counterparts. It’s probably because the cranial structures necessary for echolocation are reduced in mers. Just no place to fit more complicated or larger structures.”

His eyes took on a bright gleam. “Yes.” He passed the transducer back to her. “Should I lay back?”

She nodded. “It makes it easier. I’ll have to apply some gelly to the transducer so it’ll glide across your skin, and fair warning it’ll be cold.”

He wrinkled his nose but sighed and shifted on the table so he was laying back, the screen of the device still in sight. The tip of his tail twitched a bit at the vulnerable position but he’d met Ino’s mate many times and knew she was safe. It didn’t soothe his instincts but it  _ did _ allow him to control them.

The fact that the Sakura explained what she was doing before she did so also helped. 

He jolted when the cold transducer touched his belly, his fangs flashing in a hiss as his hand snapped to grip Sakura’s wrist.

“It’s alright.” Sakura kept her tone soothing, calm and gentle. “I won’t move until you’re ready.” She didn’t try to pull out of his grip or struggle. She’d expected a similar reaction and had prepared herself for much worse. Including some antivenin Tsunade had given her. “If you want to stop, that’s okay too. Whatever you want to do, Orochimaru-san, is what we will do.”

The soft assurance calmed him and he released her wrist. “My apologies.”

“No need for that. You’re protecting something precious and you didn’t hurt me.” She gave him a playful wink. “I was ready for a bite to be honest.”

He huffed softly. “I certainly see how you and Naruto became friends with that level of recklessness.”

She grinned. “You should talk to Sasuke about how Naruto and I met. Now, if you’re ready, I’m going to move the transducer around and see if we can get a look at your guppy.” She waited for his nod then began moving the transducer.

Orochimaru watched the grainy light and shadows that played over the screen, not quite seeing anything he could parse as known shapes even when Sakura’s hand stopped. But he heard rapid swishing that seemed just off in cadence. “Is that the heartbeat? It doesn’t sound right.”

“Hmm, it is.” Sakura smiled and adjusted slightly for a more clear image, freezing the best of them. “Both the heartbeats and right according to the heart rates Tsunade-sama gave me as a baseline.”

His eyes widened, catching the plural. “Heartbeats. More than one.”

“Mmm-hmm.” She pointed at the screen. “See this brighter section here? That’s a head and this line following down is the spine. Now over here,” she pointed at another section, “is another head and,” her finger followed the second spine, “spine. Two. It’s too soon for any further details to show but I can tell you that you’re having two guppies.”

“Two.” Orochimaru felt his throat click as he swallowed, eyes catching what Sakura pointed out now that he knew what to look for. Two guppies. After so many years and the losses of the past.  _ Two _ . And the proof was right there before his eyes.

He couldn’t look away, even knowing that Sakura’s arm would grow tired, he couldn’t stop watching the fuzzy, shadowed images of his guppies as the sound of their heartbeats swished in his ears. 

Eventually he gathered himself enough, pulling in the emotions that wanted to riot and scatter like a bunch of frightened minnows, to sit up. He took the cloth Sakura handed him and wiped away the clear gel that smeared over his belly, then tucked his hand over the swell. “Multiples are rather rare for most mers. The possibility never occured to me.”

Sakura looked up from where she was printing out the screenshots she’d taken. “Makes a nice surprise then, doesn’t it?”

A soft, breathless laugh escaped him. “Yes, I suppose it does.” He started to smile as he considered what Sakumo’s reaction would be. “A very pleasant surprise. Would you happen to have any of the plastic bags large enough to hold those images?” 

She grinned at him again. “I have something better. I have self sealing laminating pouches.”

\--------------------------------------

Sakumo rubbed one shoulder that still ached from the brief confrontation with Trench mers at the drop off. There hadn’t been any blood spilled, only a few bruises and dislocated joints, but it was concerning the way the Trench folk were starting to encroach. Tsunade planned to meet with the Trench Leader and see about working out a solution for whatever had crawled up the Trench’s vent but it was possible things could grow violent.

He saw the mouth of the cavern he shared with his mate ahead and beat his tail to get there faster. He wanted to curl up in their nest with his mate, find out if his mate had learned anything new during the meeting with Naruto’s human friend, to think of anything but danger and the possibility of a future territory war.

He slowed at the mouth of the cave, making soft, announcing clicks so he didn’t startle his mate but didn’t stop. He swam past the algae garden and kitchen and was almost to their nest grotto when coils wrapped around him from out of nowhere.

He squealed, startled, but his arms very quickly wound around Orochimaru in return.  **“Lovely! You startled me!”**

“I seem to be doing that today.” Orochimaru wound himself more firmly around his mate then narrowed his eyes. “You’re injured.”

**“Dislocated shoulder. Tsunade-sama fixed it, I promise. It’s only sore still.”** Sakumo nuzzled at Orochimaru’s jaw with an affectionate hum.  **“Did you startle Naruto’s friend?”**

“Hmm.” Orochimaru gently prodded Sakumo’s shoulder to make certain it  _ was _ properly healed. “I did, entirely by accident I assure you.” 

**“Of course.”** Sakumo smiled and swam them both to their nest chamber, crawling with his mate up onto the spongy nest they’d built over the years. He sighed, arms wrapped around Orochimaru snugly, and pressed his face to the pale throat. “How was it?”

Orochimaru lifted a hand to comb his claws through Sakumo’s hair, soothing him to relax. “Educational.” His lips curved up.

“Learn anything interesting, Lovely?” Sakumo ran his own hand up and down his mate’s back.

“Oh I learned something  _ very _ interesting, dear-heart.” 

Sakumo heard the amusement in Orochimaru’s tone and lifted his head in curiosity. “What then?”

“I learned that the equipment is similar to your echolocation, though a bit stronger as it picked up more than you or Kakashi would at this stage.” Orochimaru trailed his fingers over his mate’s jaw. “I learned that Sakura-san is the sort who prepares to be reckless with herself.”

Sakumo laughed. “Expected for a friend of Naruto’s.”

“And I learned that we are having twins.” 

“That’s a ni- what?” Sakumo’s mouth dropped open and he stared at his mate. “Did you just say-”

“Twins.” Orochimaru smirked though his expression was more joy than anything else as he brought one of Sakumo’s hands to his belly. “We are having  _ two _ guppies, dear-heart.”

“T-two. Two!  _ Lovely! _ ” Sakumo pulled him in closer, the one hand still on the slight swell, the other strong around the back of Orochimaru’s waist. “My beautiful,  _ amazing, _ wonderful mate. What a gift.” His voice choked. “What an incredible gift I’ve been given, in you and our children.”

“What a gift we have given  _ each other _ .” He corrected Sakumo even as he wound his arms around him. “It was your choice, after all, to pursue me, and my choice to accept you.” Orochimaru curled a little tighter around his mate.

“I’ll always feel a little like I stole away a treasure.” Sakumo grinned at the scoff that got from his mate. “Will we be telling our little pod?”

“Hmm, no.” Orochimaru’s smile was sly and amused. “I think we should let them be surprised.”

He laughed. “Wicked mate. I love you. More than the ocean herself loves the moon.” 

Warmth spread through Orochimaru at the words, as it always did. “As I do you, Sakumo. As I do you.” He pressed a soft kiss to his mate’s lips and settled in for a nap with him. He’d show Sakumo the images later, and pry what had dislocated his mate’s shoulder out of him, but for now he only wanted to bask in the warmth and happiness of being with his mate and carrying their guppies.


End file.
